Enhanced efficiency of a mutually coupled parallel spark preioniser

Repetitive operation of switchless transverse flow transversely excited atmosphere CO2 lasers

“…[15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22] In this method, the preionising spark array, an integral part of the laser head, was made to serve the dual role; that of a switch as well as of a source of UV photons essential for the preconditioning of the inter-electrode volume. The sequential preionising spark array used in the initial stage of this study was constructed by segmenting the main spark gap into smaller adjustable gaps and then placing them in series along the length and to one side of the discharge.…”

“…The subsequent work has been directed towards gaining a deeper understanding of the characteristics of MCPS (Refs. [17][18][19] that, in turn, allowed perfecting this switchless operation technique by way of extending the operation to include wider discharge width 19 and conventional sized systems 20 that could also be operated in triggered mode. 21,22 Repetitive operation, which was the prime motivation for moving towards switchless configuration, has so far eluded us primarily due to the following reason.…”

“…Good quality glow discharge could still be obtained primarily due to the enhanced preionisation efficiency that is intrinsic to the MCPS. 18 A parametric study of the efficiency, maximum extractable energy, repetition rate of the laser as a function of the energy loading, and gas flow rate has been carried out and the results are presented here.…”

On the operation of switch-less transversely excited atmosphere CO2 lasers in the oscillator and amplifier configurations

“…The pre-ionization chamber isolated from the main discharge chamber by means of LiF windows consisted of only two pairs of symmetrically placed aluminium pins in both the cases. The much higher efficiency of the mutually coupled pre-ionizer when compared with the conventional pre-ionizer [6] enabled the operation of the discharges in the glow mode with only two spark channels.…”